Some Books and Glasto, amongst other things

Simon;

we read books sometimes. We loik books, we do. And here is some books wot we loik at the moment.

Julio Cortazar and Carol DunlopAutonauts of the Cosmoroute. Published by Telegram at £9.99 and well worth every p.
This is gorgeous to look at and lovely to read. I suppose it could be described as a French version of a Dave Gorman project, but 17 times better. This re-issue follows Juio and Carol's journey along the Paris-Marseilles motorway (or freeway, or auto route), but with rules. They weren't allowed to leave the route, and most amusingly, they had to visit each service station along the way. I think there are 65. It's a life affirming book and it's interspersed with some great photos and some delightful line drawings, and I thoroughly endorse it. The picture above is from the cover and I thnk captures things pretty much perfectly.
Cortazar is a fascinating fellow, and having wikipediaed him, I want to know more. But this is a great start.

Tim is ripping through the mighty Space Captain Smithby Toby Frost and reasonably priced at £7.99. I hear about his escapades and from what I gather, it's a mix of Douglas Adams, Flashman, and Grant Naylor. I'll no doubt be reading it very soon.

The Suicide Shopby Jean Teule is funny, in the way I like books to be funny. Here's the story then. The Tuvaches run a sucessful business where you can buy all your 'end it now' products. Nooses, sleeping pills, poison... They have a son (Alan) who horrifically to them is a cheerful soul whose positive outlook on life threatens the whole business...
Gallic Books are putting out loads of great stuff, and we're selling most of it. I don't know why, but this reminded me of Tim Burton, and also a book which I read years ago called Pig Tales by Marie Darrieussecq. I suspect (because the subject matter is completely different) that it's the writing style that's similar, but I don't know what i'm talking about half the time so who knows.

and now for Roy of the Rovers.
Melchester magic at only £9.99. This is selling like shitty Ronaldo replica tops, and at a fraction of the price. Relive the magic of Roy Race at his peak as he gets Melchester up the table with the help of Blackie Gray. He survived a shooting by Elton Blake, and signed Bob Wilson and Spandau Ballet in the 80's (although not all this is in the book, it's just stuff in my stupid head), and was quite rightly a national hero.
Welcome back Roy.

The new Dave Eggers is sellng very well. If Eggers was a cricket commentator, I wonder what his nickname would be ? Never mind.

Glasto's on at the moment, and it made me wonder what my ideal lineup would be.

Here's a suggestion

12.00 The Wurzels kick off with cider related mayhem

1.00 the sun shines brightly as the Rakes entertain the vast crowds

2.00 There's a reunion in the making as the Specials rip through an incredible back catlaogue

3.30 The Polyphonic Spree brighten up everything..as always

5.00 The Young Knives play spiky punk for an hour or so.

6.30 The evening kicks off with MC5

8.00 Queens of the Stone Age / Nirvana take it in turns with Dave Grohl

9.30 The Clash. Nuff Said

11.00 James Marshall Hendrix

I'd enjoy it.